As the one o'clock hour chimed on the old grandfather clock in the corner of Cassie's shop, Angel closed the cover on the eighth book his sister had propped in his lap. Sipping at his coffee, having lost track of the number he'd downed since the early morning, he went over a few details he'd learned, "So, if I've been reading correctly, many hauntings and unexplained occurrences around the world are from demons, ghosts, and poltergeists either summoned or escaped from Hell and any of its seven rings?"

Cassie nodded as she separated various items apart on the main counter by the register, where the amulets lay below, "Some, yes. Most are stories are urban legends, like the Mothman of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, or the Jersey Devil. I wouldn't be surprised if they had real demon origins at first."

"And how many do you think are used to commit crimes and cause trouble?"

"There's no accurate statistics, but most who call demons to Earth aren't philanthropists."

Scratching his chin, "Perhaps Charlie and I need to open up our playbook. Especially in instances where demons may be attacking innocents."

"Let's get current things under control first, Kevin," Cassie softly admonished.

"You're right. I just can't ignore this now that I know it exists."

A chime distracted them as the shop door opened and a couple with two kids walked in. Cassie stood up straight and smiled warmly, shifting into her shopkeeper persona, "Welcome, wayward souls. Do you require guidance?"

The mother smiled back and shook her head, "No, thank you; we're just browsing."

"Of course, please take your time and call upon my wisdom should your curiosities bloom."

The mother smiled again and turned with her family to look at the various charms, incense, and books. Angel smirked, "Poetic."

"I enjoy welcoming those who are curious into my realm. It's fun, too. I especially love it when someone who's been blinded by it comes around."

Seeing her wink at him, Angel gave a small laugh, "I'm on board now, sis. I really am sorry for all the years I mocked you or thought your ideas were silly. I regret not standing up for you to our parents before you left."

"I was never angry with you, Kevin, just sad. I missed you the most when I left. I joined the service to find myself and to eventually fund this shop and live the life I wanted. I loved what I could do for our country, and I was extremely happy when I heard I was getting reassigned to your unit."

Angel fidgeted, "Yeah, until…"

"I'm sorry!" Cassie jumped in, "I didn't mean to bring that up."

"It's okay. Charlie knows, anyway. I told her. It was a bit therapeutic to share it with someone special. I never meant for you to resign, either. That was my call and mine alone."

"Kevin. In no way was I going to serve again after what happened. The others stayed through the end of their tour because they felt there was more good they could do staying in service."

"How are the others? Have you talked to them recently?"

Shaking her head, Cassie sighed, "It's been close to two years since I spoke to any of them. I keep tabs, though, through the Frequencies. Brute runs a repair shop, co-owns a wrestling school, of all things and is quite wealthy. Snapshot's got a studio and works with Hollywood sometimes. I'm surprised he's still single, hanging around so many models all the time. Shrapnel is working for the NYPD in the bomb squad and helps with the local homeless shelters and runaways. Panther's married with two kids, teaches part time, and keeps herself active in the reserves. They're never far from my thoughts, though. You really should call them and stop being a nomad."

Tapping the book he'd closed, Angel looked up at the ceiling, thinking of Charlie, "Ever since Charlie became my partner, I started to remember how important being part of a team was. I wish I'd asked any of them to join me, but this was my burden to bear and my repentance to seek. I didn't want to weigh it on them."

"Well, I'm glad you didn't exclude me. Being your ears has always meant a lot to me, Kevin, and with my sources and powers and your skills and strategy, we've made one hell of a team. I just hope you'll accept repentance before it's too late."

"When." Angel smirked, "Not if. After we take down Bible, and we will, I want to take Charlie somewhere for a long while and lose myself in her."

"You're different." Cassie let out a breath of relief, "The little brother I remember is coming back. Charlie is your soul, and I really hope that when she's rediscovered herself, you two can have a life together."

"I mean for it to be," Angel said with a serious tone, "And I'll make sure she knows it. But we've gotten off track here. What else can you—?"

Angel stopped as the mother of the family walked up to the counter to ask a question about the various types of incense. Cassie gave Angel an apologetic look and walked around the counter to attend to her customer. Angel pulled another book over and flipped it open, looking at the chapters, when the door chimed again. Cassie's voice carried over, carrying an undertone of warning: "Angel, you have a guest."

Turning on the stool, Angel watched Amanda walk through the shop. She gave Cassie a soft smile. She stepped up to the counter next to Angel, "Hey."

"Hey." Angel returned the greeting and noticed the bags under Amanda's eyes, "You didn't get any sleep, did you?"

"Not nearly enough, and that was too much, as it was." Amanda leaned on the corner of the counter and crossed her arms, "How about you?"

"More than I expected. It was a rough night. I'm sorry for messing things up in the warehouse."

"I'm just glad I got there on time, Angel. You were almost killed. How did you get so distracted?"

Despite his overall talents, he found himself unable to correlate the right words to cover for Charlie. Angel tried to change the topic. "I'm human? There were more sentries than I'd accounted for, and I messed up."

"You don't mess up, Angel. That mind of yours is a puzzle-solving machine on overdrive. No, something's been different since that night in West Virginia, and now that I'm suspended for covering for you, I think I deserve some answers."

"They suspended you? Why?"

"Stefon didn't exactly believe I was able to take out the warehouse on my own. He knows I called you in and that you were the one to canvass and eliminate the various threats before the task force could get there. And that is exactly why I know you're covering for someone else. You're good, but not that good in such a short time. Someone's been working with you, and it's fucking obvious, Angel."

"Amanda, it's not easy to explain." Angel started.

—

Outside the side door to the shop, Charlie stood silent, her hand on the knob. She had just come down a few moments before and was going to go in when she heard Amanda's voice. She listened as Amanda told Angel about the night before, being suspended, and having suspicions about her. She heard the concern in Angel's voice and that he was trying to deny having a partner. For some reason, this riled Charlie's emotions and pissed her off. She was tired of hiding from the people in Angel's life, especially this Amanda Sims. She wanted answers? She was going to get them.

—

"Explain it any way you want, Angel, but stop lying to me. I lost my job because of you. I managed to get the gun information changed to my name, and Ethan is going to call off the Stefons' dogs coming for you, so tell me the fucking truth for once."

Before Angel could respond, the side door opened, and Charlie stepped through. She immediately fixed her eyes on Amanda, who turned in surprise at Angel. Angel, however, was giving Charlie a look, asking why she had revealed herself.

Cassie appeared beside Angel, "Guys, take this upstairs." she hissed in a whisper, "My customers are watching you!"

Standing, Angel motioned for Amanda to follow him, and he walked up to Charlie, took her hand into his, and led them both to the hallway. Shutting the door behind him, he turned to Charlie, "I know you heard us. Why?"

"I'm tired of hiding."

Sighing, Angel nodded in defeat. Amanda looked at them both, "Okay, who is she, Angel?"

"I'm right here, and you can ask me yourself." The snap in Charlie's voice caught all of them off guard, as Charlie realized her jealous side was poking at her. She pushed it down, adding, "Sorry, I'm just tired of being kept in the shadows. My name is Charlotte. I work with Angel."

"Work with?" Amanda looked at Angel, eyes showing surprise, and her voice held an angry tone, "Kevin! She's a child! What the fuck are you thinking?"

"I'm not a child!" Charlie glowered, "Do I look like a fucking child to you?"

"Sorry." Amanda held up her hand apologetically and clarified, "But you're young, and you don't look like you're trained for what Angel does. How the hell have you been helping him?"

Charlie turned to Angel, and the look that she gave him told him what was about to happen. He also knew there was no stopping Charlie once she made up her mind, "Do you trust Amanda, Angel?"

"I do." Angel's words held the permission Charlie unknowingly craved, despite having already made up her mind.

"I'm not just some girl, Amanda. Will you two please join me up on the roof? I want to show you something. Just promise me you won't scream."

"Wha—?" Amanda stuttered, which caused Angel to smile slightly. He motioned for Amanda to follow him as he followed Charlie up the stairs to the roof. Once they'd made the trek, Charlie stepped ahead of them into the confines of the oriental walls of Cassie's training dojo. Angel stepped to the side and let Amanda stand in the center with Charlie alone. As she did, he spoke gently, parroting Charlie, "Amanda. Whatever you do, don't scream."

Amanda gave Angel a questioning glance, but Charlie's voice brought her attention back, "Amanda. Angel found me that night in Virginia. I was injured, and I had no memory of who I was. He treated me very well, dressing my wounds and promising to keep me safe. He then told me how he found me, and why. He told me about the Pry brothers—that they'd kidnapped two young girls with devious intentions. When I heard this, I felt something inside me snap."

"Snap?" Amanda's tone was weary.

"Yes. Then, this happened."

Before Amanda's eyes, Charlie's form changed. What was a gentle-looking young woman with blonde hair and admittedly unusually colored eyes became something straight out of Hell itself. Glowing red eyes with snake-like yellow-slit pupils, razor sharp teeth, horns jutted through her hair-line, and a spade-like tail adorned the thing that now swayed before her. Amanda took two steps back and reached for her piece, which was no longer there, and jumped with a single sharp squeak as Angel took her by the shoulders and held her in place.

"Amanda, Meet Charlotte Morningstar—the Princess of Hell—and my own personal demon."

Amanda stood frozen, her eyes wide, and her heart beating into her throat. Whimpering, she turned and pressed her face into Angel's shoulder.

Charlie watched and felt sadness and regret for scaring her, but also satisfaction that she could show her true form to Amanda. A hair of that satisfaction soothed her jealous bits. What woman would dare get in the way of a demon and its lover, right? Immediately, Charlie hated herself for the thought—jealousy a human emotion she despised—and regressed into her human form. "Amanda, it's okay. I won't hurt you. Ever. I am the reason Angel's able to use scare tactics in our mission. I'm the reason the Pry brothers are in an institution and not in prison. I'm the reason those sentries fell so quickly last night, and I'm the reason Angel almost got killed."

Angel didn't expect her to say the last part and shook his head. "No, Charlie. You did what you thought was right. I understand, and it's in the past."

Charlie nodded once, accepting that it was now a closed book and grateful for it. Now, she just had to get Amanda to trust her. Walking up to Angel holding Amanda, who still held her face against his chest, Charlie reached out and touched her softly. Amanda shrank into Angel more, and he gently pushed her away enough for Charlie to be seen, "Amanda. What I am isn't who I am. I fight with Angel to save lives. I don't take them. I look scary to the bad guys. I want to look amazing to my friends. I know it's a big ask, but will you trust me?"

Swallowing hard, Amanda turned around but leaned hard against Angel for protection, "You…you're a demon?"

"Sort of? We think I'm something a bit more than that."

"More?"

"We think," Angel interjected, "That she may be the daughter of Lucifer himself."

Amanda pushed away from them both, reached into her purse, and pulled out her pack of cigarettes. She took one out, shoved it into her mouth, flicked open her lighter, and tried to get a spark, but her hands were shaking badly. Charlie gently stepped over, and Amanda watched in awed silence as a flame of orange fire appeared at the tip of her forefinger, and she lit the cigarette for Amanda.

Stepping back, Charlie shook her head in playful admonishment, "Smoking's bad for you, you know?"

Taking three long drags in silence, Amanda began pacing around the dojo, shaking her head and whispering to herself. Angel looked concerned, but Charlie could understand every word and knew Amanda was piecing things together. Charlie went to lean against Angel, who put his arms around her, and they waited. Charlie quietly asked Angel to scratch her back, that itch having returned again. He obliged while they waited on Amanda. After a few more moments of pacing and smoking, Amanda turned to them and saw the way Angel held her, and it all clicked into place. "She's more than your partner, isn't she?"

"Let us tell you everything. Then you tell us what you want to do." Angel motioned for Amanda to sit in one of the chairs Cassie kept, and Amanda nodded shakily, lighting a second cigarette from the remains of the first, not at all wanting to see Charlie's trick again. Angel and Charlie brought Amanda up to speed on the events of the last few months, and then Angel told them both what Cassie told him about Samedi.

Charlie's face looked stricken at the news, "He killed the girl, didn't he?"

"We believe so, yes, and if he's working for Bible, we may have to deal with other supernatural situations going forward."

"If I ever see him," Charlie felt her rage boiling, and her eyes took on the all too familiar red glow as her demon side bled forth, "I made a promise to myself to rip his fucking head off!"

"Charlie?" Angel's voice held a question of her control.

"I'm sorry, Angel." Charlie touched his arm, "But no one else is going to avenge that poor child. I don't take lives. Samedi, however, isn't human to me."

Having had the time to digest all she'd learned, Amanda saw Charlie's demeanor and remembered what it felt like to hold rage against those who sought to harm the innocent. Realizing now that so many of Angel's recent successes were thanks to Charlie, she felt her fear settle into a form of weariness, but it let her articulate, "We shouldn't judge without evidence, Charlotte. But given what you've both told me, if he's involved and was responsible for that poor girl's death, have at it."

Angel now turned to Amanda and blinked with surprise, "Amanda?"

Standing and dropping her cigarette and crushing it under her heel, Amanda shrugged, "We've lost so many children to men like Bible. Kids taken, raped, murdered. And what does the system do? Holds trials, maybe prison, and then they might walk. I'm sick of the fucking bureaucracy. I'm sick of the book, Angel. Bible? Samedi? They want to be above the law? Then maybe it's not the law that needs to take them down."

"I don't kill." Angel said, but he saw both their looks, and added with a wry smile, "Humans." He squeezed Charlie's hand, "But Bible and Samedi are monsters. Charlie and I will do whatever is necessary to bring them down. For good."

Amanda gave a firm nod of agreement, "They want to suspend or fire me? I don't care. What you two have done is remarkable, and I want in."

"Even though I'm a demon?" Charlie asked softly.

"Because you're a demon, Charlotte, because you use it the way you do. I don't want to be stuck on the sidelines. Ethan is going to send me as much information as he can from the bust last night to see if anything got through before being redacted. I expect to get the materials by day's end, or early in the morning. I'm also going to call everyone I know who owes me favors or will do things even though I'm suspended to get any other leads there may be. Once I do, I'll bring it here, and we can all pour over it, together."

"I appreciate it, Amanda." Angel said, then added, "And I welcome you to the team."

"We welcome you." Charlie added, sincerely, "I'm sorry for scaring you. I couldn't bear you not trusting, Angel."

"I'm still scared, Charlotte. This is all new to me, and I have a lot to work out in my head. I believe Angel, though, and that's enough. If I can help us catch that bastard, I'll work by your side, no matter what form you take."

Amanda readjusted her purse on her shoulder and stepped past them, reaching for the door. She turned and addressed Charlotte one last time, "Please take care of Angel, Charlotte."

"I will, I promise," Charlie gripped Angel's hand to show Amanda how serious she was, then added, "And my friends call me Charlie."

"Charlie," Amanda said in farewell. She gave Angel a soft look, mixed with understanding, sadness, and a sense of loss she didn't expect to have, and closed the door behind her as she left.

Charlie leaned against Angel, "I know you didn't want me to do this, Angel, but I had to."

"I know. I understand, and it's okay." Angel guided her to turn around to face him. "Just please confer with me before we expose anyone else to you. The more who know, the less we have control over what gets out. I couldn't bear it if the wrong people discovered you."

"Trust in me, Angel, please?"

"I do, I really do. But now that we know that Samedi or someone like him may know about you, we have to be extra careful. Until we can go over whatever Amanda brings to us, we need to stay low. Take a few days off and focus on research and rest."

"So, I still have to be invisible."

Charlie's voice held a bit of anger, and Angel tried to quell it: "I know you don't like it, Charlie. I'm sorry."

With a sigh, Charlie resigned herself to it, "You're right. I don't. I want to live in this world with you, not in a cage in the back of your closet."

"Whatever makes you think like that?" Angel scoffed.

Charlie pushed away and took a few steps into the dojo, "I didn't mean it like that, Angel; I guess I'm still feeling a bit of last night. I'm sorry."

"We humans have feelings that don't get put into tidy boxes, huh?"

"No, we humans don't." Charlie allowed herself a small smirk.

"Listen, I know we still have a little bit of irritation from last night. I don't want us to get into another fight, not now or ever." Angel took the steps to reach Charlie and took her hands into his. "Let's both take a little bit to calm ourselves. We need supplies. Both for the kitchen and for our equipment. I'm going to go on a day-long shopping trip and collect them. Why don't you help Cassie in the shop and share with her what Amanda told us? When I get home tonight, I'll take you out to dinner, just the two of us. Okay?"

"That sounds good." Charlie squeezed his hands, "I agree; we both need a little room to put our feelings in order. I don't want to fight anymore, either. Go. Enjoy shopping. I'll give Cassie that hand and fill her in."

Leaning in, Angel brushed his lips against hers. "Mmmm," Charlie responded to the unexpected but welcomed kiss. Angel debated quietly if he should say the words to her but wanted it to be more special. Tonight at dinner, he'd admit everything to her so they could try to start a life together, even if it was to be without sex. As long as he could hold her in his arms and protect her from the world, that would suffice. Resting his forehead against hers, their noses barely touching, he instead whispered, "I'll see you tonight, my princess."

"Tonight, then, my precious knight."

Sharing gentle smiles, Angel left Charlie on the roof to go grab the car keys and head out. Charlie stood lost in thought, feeling her inner songstress stir, and she let it out in full, releasing all the tension that had built up and instead focused on the dream she had the night before, giving harmony to the feelings in her heart. It would be the last time she sang.